Tight Spaces
by Master-Magician
Summary: Shoving Piper inside, Nathaniel climbed in right behind her slamming the somewhat rusted door shut. It took some adjusting and moving, and a couple whacks with the butt of Piper's rifle, but they got the seats of the old car folded down to create a little more room. Even so it was pretty cramped between the two of them and the sack. But they were out of the elements and that was wh


**Been wanting to do this one for a while but I've been getting moved into my new apartment so time had been a bit of an issue. But I managed to get just enough to finish this one up. Once I'm settled I have a couple other story ideas so more will hopefully come in the future.**

 **Enjoy**.

* * *

"I'm telling you, those clouds are not looking good." Nathaniel had to agree with Piper.

The pieces of fluff in the sky were looking gray all day but in the last hour had darkened to an almost black color. It was about the unleash the wrath of the heavens any time now. At least there was no sign of a green tint so it was a normal storm instead of its meaner big brother the rad storm.

If only the Commonwealth had the weather on the television or radio like it did back in his day. They wouldn't be caught out in the open like this, or could have prepared for it.

"You know what's funny?" Piper handed the sack they had been alternating back and forth off to Nathaniel. He took the bag and hefted it onto his own shoulder.

What's that?"

"We're going to The Slog, the place that got its name from a trader who hiked through a crapload of mud and rain to get there."

"I swear to god Piper if it starts pouring on our butts, I'm blaming you." Nathaniel lightly bumped his girlfriend's hip with his own. "I might have to punish you by sleeping in a different bed."

"Pfft, you and I both know you'd crack first Blue." The reporter's lips turned up in a smug grin.

The whole point of this trip was to haul a load of circuitry to the settlement. Due to the size of the crop the ghouls grew, they were a large target for raiders. The ghouls had been fending off the raiding parties on their own but it was only a matter of time until the raiders hit in force. Now that The Slog was with the Minutemen, Nathaniel felt they could use an upgraded protection system.

A network of heavy machinegun turrets had been performing quite well in a number of other settlements. Mostly as a deterrent, when raiders saw a bunch of automatic guns lining high points they would usually turn tail and run.

The guns were not just for show though. Many a ghoul or super mutant attack had been repulsed by the system. Raiders would rarely attack but there was always the mentally unhinged idiots that thought they could take on anything. That was something that carried over into the wasteland from Nathaniel's time- sheer human stupidity.

Criminals always looked for easy targets, that was another thing that hadn't changed since Nathaniel's trip into the ice. Most of the time, raiders were not interested in taking stuff they had to actually fight for. Same reason why they were infamous for hitting caravans.

The ghouls had a good size amount of the salvage they needed for the guns but were missing some more finer components like circuitry. Hence their trip out to The Slog.

Piper had all but begged to come along when she heard where Nathaniel was going. The reporter was a sucker for tarberries but would never admit it. Plus she wanted to interview the ghouls the mayor of Diamond City kicked out. Two molerats with one bullet.

Nathaniel, being someone who couldn't resist Piper's puppy eyes, had happily brought the woman along.

The first hint of what was coming came in the form of a drop of water on Nathaniel's cheek. He wiped it off without thinking but a second and third soon followed.

"Crap!" It took longer than Nathaniel would have liked for him to put two and two together but by then it was too late. What began as a couple of droplets turned into a burst of water as the full force of the heavens opened up on the two travelers.

Even if they had advance warning, it would have done little good. They were completely out in the open with no buildings or real cover in sight. The closest thing they had to cover were a few dead leafless trees.

"Come on." Nathaniel adjusted the sack on his shoulder and nudged Piper along with him. There was no point in just standing around and getting wet. If they had any luck, they would find some place to take shelter up ahead.

The rain didn't relent in the slightest. If anything the intensity seemed to be growing. The pair were soaked through within minutes of exposure. The bag of parts was equally drenched and getting heavier but Piper didn't need to know that.

They still had the better part of a day before reaching The Slog. They could make it the rest of the way but it was not a prospect Nathaniel found all that appealing. Unless they found shelter soon, soldiering on was their only option.

It didn't take long for visibility to go to hell too. The area ahead of them had turned into a landscape of blurry shapes that were once trees and rocks. To make sure they didn't get separated in the storm, Piper's arm had taken hold of Nathaniel's extra.

The lack of visibility was an enormous issue. Last thing they needed was to be ambushed by a super mutant war party they thought was a more natural outcropping.

"Blue look!" Nathaniel followed Piper's finger pointing ahead to find a car. He could just barely make it out but one of the doors was open and the glass dome over it promised protection from the steadily worsening storm. Sure beat the hell out of nothing.

Shoving Piper inside, Nathaniel climbed in right behind her slamming the somewhat rusted door shut. It took some adjusting and moving, and a couple whacks with the butt of Piper's rifle, but they got the seats of the old car folded down to create a little more room. Even so it was pretty cramped between the two of them and the sack. But they were out of the elements and that was what mattered.

"Sheesh, who dumped the ocean on us." Piper wrung out her hair with a frown. "Haven't gotten this wet since I fished you out of the harbor a month back."

"Hey, not my fault the mirelurk didn't stop once it's head was turned into hamburger." Nathaniel looked out the glass dome of their impromptu hideout. "And I'm not the dummy who dove in before looking for more mirelurks."

The transparent surface was already starting to fog over so he rubbed a small peep hole with his sleeve. If anyone did pass by them it would be hard to even see the car, let alone see that anyone was inside. All in all it was a pretty good place to wait out the storm.

Nathaniel turned back to Piper to say something else but his voice caught in his throat.

The reporter had removed her dripping wet red leather coat while Nathaniel was looking away. Granted she was rarely without the thing, it wasn't so strange to see it off her. But what had floored Nathaniel was her shirt beneath it. Again, not the first time he had seen it, but the thin material was just as soaked as the rest of them.

The dull white material.

Piper looked at her boyfriend quizzically for a moment before she traced his gaze and looked down to see what he was staring at. The shirt clung to Piper's every curve like a second skin, revealing even the obvious outline of her bra.

The flush crept up Piper's neck and cheeks slowly but she seemed every bit unable to speak as Nathaniel, whom was in no different physical condition.

For the longest time, all was silent in the ancient car. Only the splattering of raindrops on the glass above them provided any sound. The couple's respective stares remained intact all the while.

Piper for whatever reason recovered first, her hands flying up to cover herself. "Blue!"

"Sorry sorry!" Nathaniel not only turned away but covered his eyes with his hand. Even thought they were no longer looking at each other, the awkwardness didn't dissipate.

Many would call Nathaniel charismatic, maybe even a little charming, but that was all a front. It was knowledge only Piper and perhaps Codsworth were privy to. Despite some of his best attempts, Nathaniel couldn't help how he acted around Piper in private. In truth Nathaniel was a lot more shy than he let on, not quite as confident as he projected on the outside.

What made things all the more worse was their relationship was still new, barely a couple weeks old give or take. Definitely not enough time to get used to each other. The two hadn't even slept together yet. Call him old-fashioned, but even in the Commonwealth some things shouldn't be rushed.

Until then, things like seeing Piper's underwear was going to throw Nathaniel for a loop.

If Nathaniel's hearing had been any less sharp, he would have missed Piper's mumbled apology.

"Why on earth are you sorry?" Nathaniel felt a little foolish facing his girlfriend with his hand still over his eyes but oh well.

"Well um... uhh... you know..." Piper stammered, her normal defense mechanism for embarrassment kicking in with full force.

"Know what?"

"They're kinda small... And I'm not that skinny..." Piper stumbled her way through her explanation.

"You're kidding me." Nathaniel was caught so far off guard that his hand dropped and he looked right at the woman utterly bewildered. All thoughts of her visible bra gone. Part of him wanted to laugh til his ribs hurt, but Piper would undoubtedly take that the wrong way.

"I've seen some of the magazines and stuff... I'm not exactly good lookin' by the standards of your time." It made Nathaniel's heart ache hearing the normally cheery Piper so hard on herself. He had no idea Piper was so self-conscious about how she looked to him.

"Piper..."

"I'm just sorry that..."

"Piper you're hot."

"What?" Now it was Piper's turn to look floored.

"You heard me. And most of the junk from my time is total crap anyway."

"But I thought..."

"Those women have so much plastic in them they might as well be synths. Believe me, they're poor fake reflections of real women. And they're just that, fakes. Nothing like the real thing." Nathaniel reached over and took Piper's hand planting a soft kiss to her knuckles. "Nothing like you."

That came out a lot smoother and self-assured than Nathaniel thought it would. But the end result appeared to be the same either way from the look on Piper's face.

"I... I don't know what to say." Only times like this could the great Piper Wright be rendered speechless. So far it seemed only Nathaniel possessed that power over the woman. He probably shouldn't feel so proud of himself but such was life.

"Maybe this is the part where we hug it out?" Great, there went all of the charm Nathaniel had a second ago.

As it turned out, it wasn't needed. Nathaniel had just enough time to blink before Piper launched herself across the small space between them to throw her arms around him in a crushing embrace.

* * *

The storm raged for most of the night, it wasn't until the morning that it broke down into a slight drizzle as opposed to the previous torrential downpour. With road conditions improved, Nathaniel would have hopped out of their shelter but it would seem that was not to be.

Since their discussion the previous night, the duo had shifted positions so that Piper was sitting in the V of Nathaniel's legs with her back to her boyfriend. With his arms around her, Piper was snuggled comfortably into Nathaniel's chest.

"Hey babe, I think we should be able to go now." Nathaniel went to move his hands from Piper's stomach but a groan stopped him cold.

"No."

"But what about..."

"No."

"But the..."

"No."

"Too comfy aren't you?"

"Yup!"

"So we're not leaving til you say so?"

"Now you're getting it dollface." Piper tilted her head back to look him in the eye while her hand gave him an affectionate pat on the cheek.

Nathaniel chuckled, his arms tightening their hold around the woman while his lips touched to the crown of her head. The smile never faded from Piper's lips as she relaxed back into the hold closing her eyes.

"As you wish ma'am."

* * *

 **Not sure how I feel about this one, let me know how I did everyone.**


End file.
